On Friday 11 October 1991, Colin Oliver, then 62,[1] discovered the torso in woods off Broxmead Lane in Bolney, Sussex.
[4] Detectives searched files of over 100 missing men without finding a match and appeals for the public to come forward with an identity were fruitless.
[1] In December 1991, police were contacted by a local estate agent with a potential lead; a large rented house in Copyhold Lane, Cuckfield, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the deposition location of the body, had been abandoned which raised their suspicions.
[1] Police investigated the property and found a copy of Penthouse magazine containing an article about dismembering bodies with numbers scrawled on the pages.
Knieper, who had been using the pseudonym Dr Matthias Herrman, was being sought in Germany and Ireland on suspicion of business fraud.
[1] In January 1994, police returned to Germany to interview another unnamed male who had visited the property in Copyhold Lane.
[5][2] The coffin bore the name "Unknown Male"[3] Eight people attended the paupers funeral paid for by Mid Sussex District Council.
[6] In 2010 it was reported that, following media appeals on Crimewatch UK and its German equivalent, numerous suggestions for the victim's identity had been received; however, none bore fruit.